Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Aujourd'hui 03:54

Relatives: Claxton Bay man killed by cops, was hard-working

RELATIVES of the man killed by police in Claxton Bay on the night of January 23 claim he was a hard-working man whose only priority was taking care of his family. The man has been identified as 26-year-old Miguel Hernandez. Police said that at around 9 pm on January 23, Central Division Task Force (CDTF) police were on mobile patrol when they received information about gunmen in a blue Hyundai H100 van along Dump Road. They went to the area and saw a van that matched the description. When police approached the van, they were shot at. Police shot back, and when the exchange ended, they found Hernandez bleeding from gunshot wounds about his body. Police claimed there was an AR-15 assault rifle beside him. He was taken to the Couva district health facility but was pronounced dead on arrival. No other injuries were reported, although the marked police van had bullet holes. His relatives, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to the media at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on January 30. They said Hernandez was a scrap iron dealer and was the sole breadwinner for his family. "He was the best person you could ask for or lean on for support. He had a one-year-old child. He was living to take care of his family," the relative said. Asked if they thought they would get any justice since their loved one died as a result of a police-involved shooting, they replied with a question: "You really believe you can fight the police?" On January 25, Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West told Newsday that investigations have begun into all police shootings committed this year. According to police procedure, in the event of a fatal police-involved shooting, both the police and the PCA must do separate investigations. Nine people have been killed by police in 2025. On January 21, three suspected robbers were killed in an alleged shootout with Central Division police in Cunupia. The next day, in an unrelated incident, police fatally shot Shakeem "Fabi" Nickie, 22, at Eastern Quarry, Laventille. They said he had a gun and pointed it at police. On January 23, Hernandez was killed in a shootout with Central Division police in Claxton Bay. On January 25, around 6 am, Ronnie Alexander, 40, of Laventille, was killed in an alleged shootout with police at his family's home in Tabaquite. On January 29, three people – two men and a woman – who police said were robbery suspects were killed in an alleged shootout with Central Division police. Up to press time on Thursday, the identities of the three victims were not yet known. The post Relatives: Claxton Bay man killed by cops, was hard-working appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.